14th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival comes to a close
It was another great year to attend the New Hampshire Film Festival. With over one hundred films screened this year, it was a non-stop weekend of great entertainment. And while we wish that it wasn’t the end, sadly, this year’s festival has come to its close.
On Sunday evening, attendees gathered one last time for the Closing Ceremonies & Awards. The ceremony opened with the presentation of the original short films created in this year’s Young Filmmakers Workshop. The workshop is a weekend-long event that’s part film school, part film race. The Young Filmmakers work fast, from opening ceremonies on Friday night to closing ceremonies on Sunday, to create their own original films. Based on tonight’s screening, I think that it’s safe to say that the industry has a lot of great talent headed its way. Amazing work, Young Filmmakers!
Each year, NHFF closes the festival by recognizing some of the best films of the festival by presenting our Granny Awards. The Granny is a celebration of NHFF’s award-winning films and also pays homage to our beloved Granite State. Weighing in at over 10 pounds, the Granny is surely the most physically significant award in the indie film world. Hand-carved from granite, it’s also the heaviest award in the entire film industry. A recap of this year’s Granny winners:
Screenplay Competition Grand Prize: Timucin Leflef, Heroman
Best Student Film: Paper Wrap Fire, Directed by Raymond Yeung
Best Short Comedy: Time Travel Lover, Directed by Bo Mirossenni
Best Short Drama: The Karman Line, Directed by Oscar Sharp
Best Short Documentary: Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution, Directed by Matthew VanDyke
Best Animated Film: Hanging by a Thread, Directed by Catya Plate
Audience Choice Documentary: Take Me To The River, Directed by Martin Shore
Audience Choice Feature: Manhattan Romance, Directed by Tom O’Brien
Best Documentary: E-TEAM, Directed by Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman
Best Feature: Low Down, Directed by Directed by: Jeff Preiss
Grand Jury Award – Documentary: Becoming Bulletproof, Directed by Michael Barnett
Grand Jury Award – Narrative: Two Step, Directed by Alex Johnson
The Grand Jury award is NHFF’s most prestigious Granny. New this year is a Grand Jury award specifically for feature length documentaries, complementing the much-revered award for feature length narratives. Also new this year, a prize package for an all-expenses paid trip for the director or producer to New York City for an industry meeting with Oscilloscope Laboratories (Narrative winner) and A&E Indie Films (Documentary winner) has been added to the esteemed awards.
Joining the 2014 NHFF Narrative Grand Jury are Damian Benders, Senior Vice President at SnagFilms; Leigh Blickley, Celebrity Editor at The Huffington Post; and Rebecca Sosa, Head of Digital Distribution at A24 Films. Joining the 2014 NHFF Documentary Grand Jury are Justin DiPietro, Manager of Theatrical Sales at IFC Films; Josh Green, Partner at Game 7 Films; and Liz Owens, Senior Publicist at Allied Integrated Marketing.
We want to thank everyone once again for coming out for such a spectacular weekend of events! It truly is our favorite time of year—see you again in 2015!